“I have voted to increase the debt ceiling with no strings attached,” Hatch wrote. “And I do not believe the United States should default on our debt. But we are living in a terrifying new reality that few Democrats seem willing to discuss.

“The national debt, if left unchecked, will eclipse our entire economic output in a mere 25 years, outstripping private investment and threatening the nation's economic health. That is the prognosis Congress' nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office, reported last week.”

On Tuesday, New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait critiqued Hatch's editorial: “Hatch presents his case as if he is rebutting Obama. He’s not. It is true that Congress has on occasion negotiated over budget changes ‘as part of debt-ceiling increases.’ What does that mean? It means that when Congress makes a change in budget policy, it often appends a debt-ceiling increase to that. It does not mean that Congress has negotiated over whether to increase the debt ceiling.”